Pac-Mecium is like Pac-Man, only alive

And one of a few other games some very, very clever people have made at Standford University. Ingmar Riedel-Kruse has essentially made a biotic videogame. Instead of designing characters and programing stuff like path-finding algorithms and physics, he’s just made single-celled organisms (paramecium) act as the in-game sprites and characters.

The wriggly little buggers float about in fluid-filled container with a microscope above them. The microscope’s image is displayed on an attached laptop, and a custom controller hooked up to the container controls the organisms. How? Through science!

By sending very light currents of electricity or scents into the liquid-filled container, the player is able to direct the masses of single-celled beasties in certain directions. The laptop controls the actual “game” part. So for example, you might have to direct the cells around the screen to collect little dots ala Pac-Man.

Check out the video bellow for some explanations from Riedal-Kruse himself, as well as some of the games in action. Very clever stuff!

Source: Kotaku

Last Updated: January 14, 2011